Week 2 RB Touches Breakdown

What a strange two weeks of football we’ve seen. We still have far less clarity than we’d like as fantasy owners, and actually saw a few backfields muddied further than before. So let’s get right into the Week 2 RB touches breakdown.

Week 2 RB Touches Breakdown

Seattle Seahawks

Chris Carson (20 touches), Thomas Rawls (5 touches)

The rookie Carson seemingly emerged as a bell-cow in the Seattle offense. However, expectations need to be capped. Rawls was working his way back from an injury and could see more involvement in the running game. It’s also possible passing down back CJ Prosise sees more than the zero carries he had in week two. 20 carries for Carson is without a doubt exciting, don’t get me wrong. It’s why he was a top waiver pickup this week. But expecting him to continue to absolutely dominate the touches the way he did in week two is a bit too much to ask. Currently, if I had to start a Seahawks running back, it would without a doubt be Carson. But it wouldn’t be a confident play.

Arizona Cardinals

The post-DJ running back distribution was about what we expected. Johnson and Williams split early-down work, and Ellington was the primary pass catcher. Coach Bruce Arians have mentioned that Johnson should get more carries heading into week three, which would make him the lead back for early downs. Ellington doesn’t have enough usage to warrant ownership, and it looks like the back formerly known as CJ2K will be taking from Williams’ already limited role. If you have to own one, it should be Johnson. But a David Johnson-less Arizona running game isn’t one that demands heavy investment.

Tennessee Titans

Derrick Henry (14 touches), DeMarco Murray (10 touches)

This was the biggest development of the week. Henry’s value has understandably skyrocketed as though he’s the new lead back. I know many love his talent. But I think proclaiming Henry as the Titans’ lead back would be premature. We know he’s arguably the top handcuff in fantasy. However, Murray was dealing with a “tight hamstring”, and the Titans were torching the Jags, making it sensible to give Henry the ball. We’ll find out more about this backfield as soon as Murray is back healthy. I’d expect Murray to still handle a full workload when healthy (which doesn’t appear to be the case for this week).

We can’t expect clarity in every backfield. That idea is long gone in today’s NFL. But these are just three backfields to keep an eye on this weekend, as we get ready for the third week of football.